--- title: President Buhari Says Nigeria Has 'Technically' Beaten Boko Haram description: Buhari says armed forces have limited the insurgency's threat. canonical: https://time.com/4161175/buhari-nigeria-technically-won-war-boko-haram/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-24T17:42:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:37:50.581Z article:section: World og:title: President Buhari Says Nigeria Has 'Technically' Beaten Boko Haram og:description: Buhari says armed forces have limited the insurgency's threat og:url: https://time.com/4161175/buhari-nigeria-technically-won-war-boko-haram/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b04b579d5425f3f/698876d9524fc06511df6120/muhammadu-buhari.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Muhammadu Buhari delivers 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Buhari Says Nigeria Has 'Technically' Beaten Boko Haram twitter:description: Buhari says armed forces have limited the insurgency's threat twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b04b579d5425f3f/698876d9524fc06511df6120/muhammadu-buhari.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Buhari Says Nigeria Has 'Technically' Beaten Boko Haram ## Video: Inside ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Battle for Brand Supremacy [Watch (HLS stream): Inside ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Battle for Brand Supremacy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gK3s3WLk.m3u8) (5:16)  _Published 2015-02-04. They may share similar goals but the two groups are bitter rivals_  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Dec 24, 2015 5:42 PM CUT  President Muhammadu Buhari delivers the 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria, on Dec. 22, 2015. President Muhammadu Buhari delivers the 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria, on Dec. 22, 2015.Reuters  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Dec 24, 2015 5:42 PM CUT President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria has [“technically” defeated](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35173618 "undefined") the Boko Haram militant group. Buhari explained that Nigerian forces have restricted the Boko Haram insurgency to fighting with improvised explosives devices (IEDs) and mostly limited their force to the center of Borno state, the BBC reports. “Articulated conventional attacks on centers of communication and populations…they are no longer capable of doing that effectively,” Buhari [said](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35173618 "undefined"). “So I think technically we have won the war because people are going back into their neighborhoods. Boko Haram as an organized fighting force, I assure you, that we have dealt with them.” Skeptics have claimed that the Nigerian government has been overstating its success against the terrorist group. Buhari campaigned on a platform of eliminating Boko Haram, which has caused more than 17,000 deaths and displaced over 1.5 million people in Nigeria. UNICEF announced last week that the insurgents have forced [more than 1 million](http://time.com/4157941/boko-haram-forces-more-than-1-million-kids-out-of-school/ "undefined") children from school. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35173618 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161175/buhari-nigeria-technically-won-war-boko-haram/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161175/buhari-nigeria-technically-won-war-boko-haram/"},"headline":"President Buhari Says Nigeria Has 'Technically' Beaten Boko Haram","datePublished":"2015-12-24T17:42:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:37:50.581Z","description":"Buhari says armed forces have limited the insurgency's threat","url":"https://time.com/4161175/buhari-nigeria-technically-won-war-boko-haram/","keywords":["Nigeria","Boko Haram","Muhammadu Buhari"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b04b579d5425f3f/698876d9524fc06511df6120/muhammadu-buhari.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b04b579d5425f3f/698876d9524fc06511df6120/muhammadu-buhari.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Muhammadu Buhari delivers 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria","caption":"President Muhammadu Buhari delivers the 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria December 22, 2015. 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